Staffan de Mistura ruled out any breakthrough at this week's negotiations to end a war that has claimed more than 320,000 lives and displaced more than half of Syria's population. But he pointed to a new ceasefire brokered with US and Russian help, covering three provinces in southern Syria, as one source of hope.

The buzz from Geneva is that international talks there on Iran’s nuclear ambitions are approaching a deal. The deal could limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities for a decade or more, in exchange for an easing of sanctions.

There was something of a diplomatic bright spot on Thursday, when representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the EU and the US agreed on steps to take to de-escalate the conflict in Ukraine. But the crisis is a long way from over and one expert says there's still a great deal of danger ahead.

The diplomatic dance requires multiple players to dance with you. And Secretary of State John Kerry has traveled the world looking for dance partners — successfully, in many occasions. On the matter of Syria, though, few are cooperating.

The first round of Syria peace talks is wrapping up in Geneva. Not much has come out of these talks so far, but a Syrian journalist says one positive outcome is that the two sides are meeting face-to-face.

The Vatican has long been a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. But today was the first time the Catholic Church had to answer the UN's questions about its repeated failure to protect children from abuse.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have occupied central roles in American foreign policy for the last decade — and some role long before that. But their influence may well wane if relations between the US and Iran continue to improve.

Iran and the US are both crowing about the agreement the two sides reached over the weekend. But major US allies are unsure of what to make of it and fear the US approach to the Middle East is changing dramatically, perhaps for the worse.

There was something of a diplomatic bright spot on Thursday, when representatives of Ukraine, Russia, the EU and the US agreed on steps to take to de-escalate the conflict in Ukraine. But the crisis is a long way from over and one expert says there's still a great deal of danger ahead.

The buzz from Geneva is that international talks there on Iran’s nuclear ambitions are approaching a deal. The deal could limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities for a decade or more, in exchange for an easing of sanctions.

Syria's Deputy Prime Minister, Qadri Jamil, says the civil war is in a stalemate. He was speaking in an interview with Britain's Guardian Newspaper. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with the Guardian's Jonathan Steele in Damascus.

Staffan de Mistura ruled out any breakthrough at this week's negotiations to end a war that has claimed more than 320,000 lives and displaced more than half of Syria's population. But he pointed to a new ceasefire brokered with US and Russian help, covering three provinces in southern Syria, as one source of hope.